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Incarcerated Parents and Their Children

Trends 1991-2007

February 2009

For further information:

The Sentencing Project

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Suite 1000

Washington, D.C. 20004

(202) 628-0871

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This report was written by Sarah Schirmer, Ashley Nellis, and Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project. The Sentencing Project is a national non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy issues. The Sentencing Project is supported by the generosity of individual contributors and the following foundations:

Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation

Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Ford Foundation

Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation

Herb Block Foundation

JK Irwin Foundation

Ralph E. Ogden Foundation

Open Society Institute

Public Welfare Foundation

Anonymous Donor at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Elizabeth B. and Arthur E. Roswell Foundation

Sandler Family Foundation

The Starfish Group

Restorative Justice Program, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church

Wallace Global Fund Copyright © 2009 by The Sentencing Project. Reproduction of this document in full or part in print or electronic format only by permission of The Sentencing Project.

http://www.sentencingproject.org/

INCARCERATED PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN | TRENDS 1991-2007

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Mass incarceration has had significant and long-lasting impacts on American society,

and particularly on communities of color. There is now a growing awareness that

parents who go to prison do not suffer the consequences alone; the children of

incarcerated parents often lose contact with their parent and visits are sometimes

rare. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to drop out of school, engage

in delinquency, and subsequently be incarcerated themselves.1

In 2007 there were 1.7 million children in America with a parent in prison, more

than 70% of whom were children of color. Children of incarcerated parents live in a

variety of circumstances. Some were previously in homes of two-parent families,

where the non-incarcerated parent can assume primary responsibility for the

children. Many children, especially in cases of women’s incarceration, were in single-

parent homes and are then cared for by a grandparent or other relative, if not in

foster care. And in some cases, due to substance abuse and other factors, incarcerated

parents had either not lived with their children or not provided a secure environment

for them. Following release from prison both parents and children face challenges in

reuniting their families. Parents have to cope with the difficulty of finding

employment and stable housing while also reestablishing a relationship with their

children.

The increasing incarceration of women means that more mothers are being

incarcerated than ever before. There is some evidence that maternal incarceration

can be more damaging to a child than paternal incarceration, which results in more

children now suffering negative consequences. The number of incarcerated mothers

has more than doubled (122%) from 29,500 in 1991 to 65,600 in 2007. The effect

1 Dallaire, D.H. (2007). Incarcerated mothers and fathers: A Comparison of risks for children and families. Family Relations, 56(5), 440-453.

2 INCARCERATED PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN | TRENDS 1991-2007

of parents’ incarceration on children is related to a number of factors, including

whether the child was living with the parent, whether the family unit was a one-

parent or two-parent household, whether the parent was the sole earner, the age of

the child, and the surrounding support network. While the effects can differ among

children, the consequences of incarceration of a parent on a child are long-lasting and

need to be considered when analyzing the ramifications of an expanding prison

population.

This briefing paper evaluates data from reports compiled by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics2 citing data from 1997, 2004, and 2007. It also includes information from and comparisons to data from 1991, where possible, to allow analysis of trends over the last two decades. Key Points

• In 2007, 1.7 million minor children had a parent in prison, an 82% increase

since 1991. • One in 43 American children has a parent in prison, with particularly broad

racial/ethnic variation. o One in 15 black children and 1 in 42 Latino children has a parent in

prison, compared to 1 in 111 white children. • In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in U.S. state and federal

prisons, an increase of 79% since 1991. • In 2007, half (52%) of all incarcerated men and women were parents. • In 2004, 59% of parents in a state correctional facility and 45% of parents in

a federal correctional facility reported never having had a personal visit from their child(ren).

• Two-thirds of the incarcerated parent population is non-white. • From 1991 to 2007, the number of incarcerated mothers increased by 122%,

compared to a rise of 76% for incarcerated fathers.

2 Glaze, L. E. & Maruschak, L. M. (2008). Parents in prison and their minor children. U.S.

Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. NCJ 222984. Mumola, C.J. (2000).

Incarcerated parents and their children. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special

Report. NCJ 182335.


I N C A R C E R A T E D P A R E N T S

Population, 1991-2007 In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in state and federal prisons, a 79%

increase since 1991, when there were 452,500 incarcerated parents. The population

of parents is following a trend similar to that of all incarcerated individuals. While

the prison population has almost doubled since 1991, the largest increase occurred

between 1991 and 1997, with a slower rate of increase since then. Similarly, the

number of parents jumped from 452,500 in 1991 to 721,500 in 1997 (an increase of

59%), but has increased more slowly (12%) since 1997. As Table 1 shows, while the

proportion of incarcerated individuals with minor children increased slightly between

1991 and 1997, it has since decreased 11%. Nevertheless, while the proportion of

people in prison who are parents is declining, the overall numbers are still increasing

steadily.

Table 1: Change in Incarcerated Parent Population

% Change % Change 1991-2007 1997-2007

Prison Population 789,610 1,244,554 1,570,115 98.8% 26.2%Incarcerated Parent Population 452,500 721,500 809,800 79.0% 12.2%

Parents as % Total Incarcerated Population 57.3% 58.0% 51.6% -10.0% -11.0%

1991 1997 2007


Marital Status, 1997-2004 More than half of all incarcerated parents have never been married, an increase of

19% since 1997, and only 17% of incarcerated parents were married at the time of

their imprisonment, a decrease of 28% since 1997. The changes in marital status

could have an averse affect on the children of parents who do not have another

parent at home when one parent goes to prison. Table 2 details the change in

marital status of incarcerated parents from 1997 to 2004. Although most

incarcerated parents have never been married, many have lived with their children

prior to arrest. Among parents in federal prisons in 2004, half (48%) had lived with

their children in the month prior to their arrest.

Table 2: Marital Status of Incarcerated Parents

% Change 1997-2004

Never Married 46.8% 55.9% 19.4%Widowed/Divorced/Separated 29.1% 26.8% -8.0%Married 24.1% 17.4% -28.0%

1997 2004

Gender of Incarcerated Parents, 1991-2007 In 2007, 92% of incarcerated parents were fathers and 8% were mothers. Since

1991, the number of incarcerated fathers has increased 76% while the number of

incarcerated mothers has increased 122% (Table 3).

Table 3: Incarcerated Mothers and Fathers, 1991-2007

Change %Change1991 1997 2007 1991 - 2007 1991-2007

Fathers 423,000 667,900 744,200 321,200 76%Mothers 29,500 53,600 65,600 36,100 122%Total Number of Parents 452,500 721,500 809,800 357,300 79%


The rising number of women in prison poses particular challenges for family

stability. While the vast majority of children of male prisoners are living with their

mothers, only about a third (37%) of the children of incarcerated women are living

with their fathers. Most of these children are living with grandparents or other

relatives, while one of every nine (10.9%) women in prison has a child living in

foster care.


M I N O R C H I L D R E N O F I N C A R C E R A T E D P A R E N T S

In 2007, there were 1,706,600 minor children with an incarcerated parent, an 82.2%

increase over the 936,500 children in 1991 (see Table 4). In 2007, one in 43 (2.3%)

American children had a parent incarcerated in a state or federal prison.

Approximately half of children with incarcerated parents are under ten years old;

22% of children of state inmates and 16% of children of federal inmates are under

five years old. The large number of young children with an incarcerated parent

creates problems that vary depending on each family’s circumstances. In some

instances, such as a child living in a home where substance abuse was prevalent, the

incarceration of a parent may actually result in a more stable environment for the

child if a responsible relative is able to take on the child’s care. In other cases, the

child will suffer from the shame and stigma of having a parent in prison, along with

the disruption of moving to a new home environment one or more times.

Table 4: Number of Minor Children of Incarcerated Parents

% Change1991 1997 2007 1991 - 2007

Children with Incarcerated Parent 936,500 1,498,800 1,706,600 82.2%


Racial and Ethnic Composition In 2007, one in 15 (6.7%) black children, one in 42 (2.4%) Latino children, and one

in 111 (0.9%) white children had an incarcerated parent (see Table 5). Since 1997,

the number of white and Latino children with an incarcerated parent has increased

26% and 20% respectively, while the number of black children remained the same.

Table 5: Racial and Ethnic Characteristics of Minor Children of Incarcerated Individuals

% Change

1997 2007 1997-2007 1997 2007White 384,500 484,100 25.9% 125 111Black 767,200 767,400 0.0% 14 15Latino 301,600 362,800 20.3% 39 42

One in

Contact with Parents In 2004, more than half of parents housed in a state correctional facility had never

had a personal visit from their child(ren), and almost half of parents in a federal

facility had experienced the same. Frequency of contact between children and

parents incarcerated in federal correctional facilities has dropped substantially since

1997; monthly contact has decreased 28%, while those who report never having

contact with their children has increased 17%.

Table 6: Frequency of Contact between Children and their Incarcerated Parents

State Federal State Federal State Federal

Any 22.2% 23.8% 22.3% 17.0% 0.5% -28.6%Telephone 16.5% 23.2% 15.6% 17.2% -5.5% -25.9%Mail 23.1% 30.4% 23.2% 31.0% 0.4% 2.0%Visits 13.9% 15.1% 12.5% 14.7% -10.1% -2.6%

NeverAny 20.4% 7.5% 21.4% 8.8% 4.9% 17.3%

Visits 56.6% 44.1% 58.5% 44.7% 3.4% 1.4%

% Change 1997 - 200420041997

At least once a month


A key factor explaining the limited contact is that incarcerated parents are generally

housed far from home. In 2004, 62% of parents in a state correctional facility and

84% of parents in a federal correctional facility were housed more than 100 miles

from their place of residence at arrest, and only 15% of parents in a state facility and

about 5% of parents in a federal facility were housed fewer than 50 miles from their

place of residence at arrest (see Table 7). This finding indicates that children of

incarcerated parents typically live too far from their parents to see them very often.

Table 7: Parents’ Distance from Home, 2004

Distance from Home State Federal

Less than 50 miles 15.5% 4.6%50-100 miles 20.6% 9.3%101-500 miles 52.3% 41.2%More than 500 miles 10.0% 42.4%Unknown 1.6% 2.5%


P O L I C Y I M P A C T

Public policies often exacerbate the challenges faced by incarcerated parents and their

children. For example, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) signed by

President Clinton in 1997, authorizes the termination of parental rights when a child

has been living under foster care for 15 of the last 22 months. Because the average

prison sentence exceeds 22 months, incarcerated parents dependent on foster care for

their child’s care are at risk of losing custody. Loss of parental rights is of particular

concern to mothers in prison, who are five times as likely as men to report having

children placed in a foster home.

Moreover, the collateral consequences of a felony conviction and the obstacles to

successful reentry for parents released from prison complicate the resumption of

custody. For example, the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity

Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, imposes a

lifetime ban on cash assistance and food stamps for people convicted of a drug

offense, unless a state opts out of the requirement. People denied this assistance, or

other social services like public housing or employment training, become limited in

their ability to reintegrate and maintain stable households, thus diminishing the

likelihood of regaining custody of their children.


R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S F O R P U B L I C P O L I C Y

The growing number of children with an incarcerated parent represents one of the

most significant collateral consequences of the record prison population in the U.S.

To address the issues presented by these developments policymakers should consider

a range of programmatic and policy changes to minimize the harm caused to these

children and to do so in ways that are consistent with public safety. These include:

Support Parent/Child Relationships

Corrections systems can provide programming that encourages good parenting as

well as bonding with children. The Bedford Hills, NY, women’s prison, for example,

has long maintained a program by which newborn babies can live with their mothers

in prison for a period of time. Other prison systems have developed parenting classes

to aid mothers and fathers who in many cases may lack the skills for effective child-

rearing.

Enhance Reentry Programming

In addition to the need to secure employment and housing upon release from prison,

incarcerated parents also face the challenge of developing a means by which to

reunite with their children. This often necessitates securing the economic resources

necessary to care for children and providing family counseling in appropriate cases.

Corrections systems and parole agencies can aid in this process through reentry

planning and providing linkages to transitional services.

Revise Ineffective Legislation As noted above, both the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the

PRWORA legislation have impeded the prospects for successful reentry and uniting

parents with children. These policies have a particular impact on people convicted of

a drug offense and on women. The welfare and food stamp ban serves no rational

purpose and should be repealed by Congress. The AFSA legislation should be

amended to permit greater discretion in terminating parental rights for persons in

prison, consistent with the safety and well-being of children.


Reconsider Lengthy Sentencing Policies

“Tough on crime” policies adopted in recent decades are increasingly being seen as

producing overly punitive and costly results that produce severe imbalances in

promoting public safety. In regard to the needs of children with parents in prison, of

particular concern is the increasing length of prison sentences, which contribute to

further fraying of parent-child bonds. Therefore, policymakers should review

policies such as mandatory sentencing and similar measures that both fail to take into

account the impact of incarceration on children left behind and frequently impose

prison terms that are far longer than necessary for public safety concerns.

C O N C L U S I O N

The number of children with a parent in prison has increased 82% since the early

1990s, and children now see their incarcerated parents less frequently than

previously. While the racial disparity among children with incarcerated parents has

decreased slightly, black children are still seven times more likely, and Latino

children twice as likely, as white children to have an incarcerated parent. The

proportion of incarcerated individuals who are parents has decreased slightly since

1991, but the exponential increase in the number of parents in prison is likely to

have lasting effects on families and communities, particularly in minority

neighborhoods. Scholars have found, for example, that young children “have been

observed to suffer a variety of adverse outcomes that are consistent with the research

on the effects of insecure attachments,” and that more than half of children with

incarcerated parents have had school problems such as poor grades and instances of

aggression.3 These problems are likely to worsen as maternal incarceration continues

to rise. Awareness of the issue and its implications, along with action to reduce the

impact of incarceration on children, is necessary in order to protect and support

children when their parents are incarcerated.

3 Parke, R. and Clarke-Stewart, K.A. (2002). Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

INTRODUCTION Mass incarceration has had significant and long-lasting impacts on American society, and particularly on communities of color. There is now a growing awareness that parents who go to prison do not suffer the consequences alone; the children of incarcerated parents often lose contact with their parent and visits are sometimes rare. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to drop out of school, engage in delinquency, and subsequently be incarcerated themselves. In 2007 there were 1.7 million children in America with a parent in prison, more than 70% of whom were children of color. Children of incarcerated parents live in a variety of circumstances. Some were previously in homes of two-parent families, where the non-incarcerated parent can assume primary responsibility for the children. Many children, especially in cases of women’s incarceration, were in single-parent homes and are then cared for by a grandparent or other relative, if not in foster care. And in some cases, due to substance abuse and other factors, incarcerated parents had either not lived with their children or not provided a secure environment for them. Following release from prison both parents and children face challenges in reuniting their families. Parents have to cope with the difficulty of finding employment and stable housing while also reestablishing a relationship with their children. The increasing incarceration of women means that more mothers are being incarcerated than ever before. There is some evidence that maternal incarceration can be more damaging to a child than paternal incarceration, which results in more children now suffering negative consequences. The number of incarcerated mothers has more than doubled (122%) from 29,500 in 1991 to 65,600 in 2007. The effect of parents’ incarceration on children is related to a number of factors, including whether the child was living with the parent, whether the family unit was a one-parent or two-parent household, whether the parent was the sole earner, the age of the child, and the surrounding support network. While the effects can differ among children, the consequences of incarceration of a parent on a child are long-lasting and need to be considered when analyzing the ramifications of an expanding prison population. This briefing paper evaluates data from reports compiled by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics citing data from 1997, 2004, and 2007. It also includes information from and comparisons to data from 1991, where possible, to allow analysis of trends over the last two decades. Key Points In 2007, 1.7 million minor children had a parent in prison, an 82% increase since 1991. One in 43 American children has a parent in prison, with particularly broad racial/ethnic variation. o One in 15 black children and 1 in 42 Latino children has a parent in prison, compared to 1 in 111 white children. In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in U.S. state and federal prisons, an increase of 79% since 1991. In 2007, half (52%) of all incarcerated men and women were parents. In 2004, 59% of parents in a state correctional facility and 45% of parents in a federal correctional facility reported never having had a personal visit from their child(ren). Two-thirds of the incarcerated parent population is non-white. From 1991 to 2007, the number of incarcerated mothers increased by 122%, compared to a rise of 76% for incarcerated fathers. INCARCERATED PARENTS Population, 1991-2007

In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in state and federal prisons, a 79% increase since 1991, when there were 452,500 incarcerated parents. The population of parents is following a trend similar to that of all incarcerated individuals. While the prison population has almost doubled since 1991, the largest increase occurred between 1991 and 1997, with a slower rate of increase since then. Similarly, the number of parents jumped from 452,500 in 1991 to 721,500 in 1997 (an increase of 59%), but has increased more slowly (12%) since 1997. As Table 1 shows, while the proportion of incarcerated individuals with minor children increased slightly between 1991 and 1997, it has since decreased 11%. Nevertheless, while the proportion of people in prison who are parents is declining, the overall numbers are still increasing steadily. Table 1: Change in Incarcerated Parent Population Marital Status, 1997-2004

More than half of all incarcerated parents have never been married, an increase of 19% since 1997, and only 17% of incarcerated parents were married at the time of their imprisonment, a decrease of 28% since 1997. The changes in marital status could have an averse affect on the children of parents who do not have another parent at home when one parent goes to prison. Table 2 details the change in marital status of incarcerated parents from 1997 to 2004. Although most incarcerated parents have never been married, many have lived with their children prior to arrest. Among parents in federal prisons in 2004, half (48%) had lived with their children in the month prior to their arrest. Table 2: Marital Status of Incarcerated Parents Gender of Incarcerated Parents, 1991-2007

In 2007, 92% of incarcerated parents were fathers and 8% were mothers. Since 1991, the number of incarcerated fathers has increased 76% while the number of incarcerated mothers has increased 122% (Table 3). Table 3: Incarcerated Mothers and Fathers, 1991-2007 The rising number of women in prison poses particular challenges for family stability. While the vast majority of children of male prisoners are living with their mothers, only about a third (37%) of the children of incarcerated women are living with their fathers. Most of these children are living with grandparents or other relatives, while one of every nine (10.9%) women in prison has a child living in foster care. MINOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS In 2007, there were 1,706,600 minor children with an incarcerated parent, an 82.2% increase over the 936,500 children in 1991 (see Table 4). In 2007, one in 43 (2.3%) American children had a parent incarcerated in a state or federal prison. Approximately half of children with incarcerated parents are under ten years old; 22% of children of state inmates and 16% of children of federal inmates are under five years old. The large number of young children with an incarcerated parent creates problems that vary depending on each family’s circumstances. In some instances, such as a child living in a home where substance abuse was prevalent, the incarceration of a parent may actually result in a more stable environment for the child if a responsible relative is able to take on the child’s care. In other cases, the child will suffer from the shame and stigma of having a parent in prison, along with the disruption of moving to a new home environment one or more times. Table 4: Number of Minor Children of Incarcerated Parents Racial and Ethnic Composition

In 2007, one in 15 (6.7%) black children, one in 42 (2.4%) Latino children, and one in 111 (0.9%) white children had an incarcerated parent (see Table 5). Since 1997, the number of white and Latino children with an incarcerated parent has increased 26% and 20% respectively, while the number of black children remained the same. Table 5: Racial and Ethnic Characteristics of Minor Children of Incarcerated Individuals Contact with Parents

In 2004, more than half of parents housed in a state correctional facility had never had a personal visit from their child(ren), and almost half of parents in a federal facility had experienced the same. Frequency of contact between children and parents incarcerated in federal correctional facilities has dropped substantially since 1997; monthly contact has decreased 28%, while those who report never having contact with their children has increased 17%. Table 6: Frequency of Contact between Children and their Incarcerated Parents A key factor explaining the limited contact is that incarcerated parents are generally housed far from home. In 2004, 62% of parents in a state correctional facility and 84% of parents in a federal correctional facility were housed more than 100 miles from their place of residence at arrest, and only 15% of parents in a state facility and about 5% of parents in a federal facility were housed fewer than 50 miles from their place of residence at arrest (see Table 7). This finding indicates that children of incarcerated parents typically live too far from their parents to see them very often. Table 7: Parents’ Distance from Home, 2004 POLICY IMPACT Public policies often exacerbate the challenges faced by incarcerated parents and their children. For example, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) signed by President Clinton in 1997, authorizes the termination of parental rights when a child has been living under foster care for 15 of the last 22 months. Because the average prison sentence exceeds 22 months, incarcerated parents dependent on foster care for their child’s care are at risk of losing custody. Loss of parental rights is of particular concern to mothers in prison, who are five times as likely as men to report having children placed in a foster home. Moreover, the collateral consequences of a felony conviction and the obstacles to successful reentry for parents released from prison complicate the resumption of custody. For example, the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, imposes a lifetime ban on cash assistance and food stamps for people convicted of a drug offense, unless a state opts out of the requirement. People denied this assistance, or other social services like public housing or employment training, become limited in their ability to reintegrate and maintain stable households, thus diminishing the likelihood of regaining custody of their children. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY The growing number of children with an incarcerated parent represents one of the most significant collateral consequences of the record prison population in the U.S. To address the issues presented by these developments policymakers should consider a range of programmatic and policy changes to minimize the harm caused to these children and to do so in ways that are consistent with public safety. These include: Support Parent/Child Relationships Corrections systems can provide programming that encourages good parenting as well as bonding with children. The Bedford Hills, NY, women’s prison, for example, has long maintained a program by which newborn babies can live with their mothers in prison for a period of time. Other prison systems have developed parenting classes to aid mothers and fathers who in many cases may lack the skills for effective child-rearing. Enhance Reentry Programming

In addition to the need to secure employment and housing upon release from prison, incarcerated parents also face the challenge of developing a means by which to reunite with their children. This often necessitates securing the economic resources necessary to care for children and providing family counseling in appropriate cases. Corrections systems and parole agencies can aid in this process through reentry planning and providing linkages to transitional services. Revise Ineffective Legislation As noted above, both the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the PRWORA legislation have impeded the prospects for successful reentry and uniting parents with children. These policies have a particular impact on people convicted of a drug offense and on women. The welfare and food stamp ban serves no rational purpose and should be repealed by Congress. The AFSA legislation should be amended to permit greater discretion in terminating parental rights for persons in prison, consistent with the safety and well-being of children. Reconsider Lengthy Sentencing Policies “Tough on crime” policies adopted in recent decades are increasingly being seen as producing overly punitive and costly results that produce severe imbalances in promoting public safety. In regard to the needs of children with parents in prison, of particular concern is the increasing length of prison sentences, which contribute to further fraying of parent-child bonds. Therefore, policymakers should review policies such as mandatory sentencing and similar measures that both fail to take into account the impact of incarceration on children left behind and frequently impose prison terms that are far longer than necessary for public safety concerns. CONCLUSION The number of children with a parent in prison has increased 82% since the early 1990s, and children now see their incarcerated parents less frequently than previously. While the racial disparity among children with incarcerated parents has decreased slightly, black children are still seven times more likely, and Latino children twice as likely, as white children to have an incarcerated parent. The proportion of incarcerated individuals who are parents has decreased slightly since 1991, but the exponential increase in the number of parents in prison is likely to have lasting effects on families and communities, particularly in minority neighborhoods. Scholars have found, for example, that young children “have been observed to suffer a variety of adverse outcomes that are consistent with the research on the effects of insecure attachments,” and that more than half of children with incarcerated parents have had school problems such as poor grades and instances of aggression. These problems are likely to worsen as maternal incarceration continues to rise. Awareness of the issue and its implications, along with action to reduce the impact of incarceration on children, is necessary in order to protect and support children when their parents are incarcerated.

ssr_sp_inside_front_cvr_incparents.pdfThis report was written by Sarah Schirmer, Ashley Nellis, and Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project. The Sentencing Project is a national non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy issues. The Sentencing Project is supported by the generosity of individual contributors and the following foundations: Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation Criminal Justice Policy Foundation Ford Foundation Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation Herb Block Foundation JK Irwin Foundation Ralph E. Ogden Foundation Open Society Institute Public Welfare Foundation Anonymous Donor at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Elizabeth B. and Arthur E. Roswell Foundation Sandler Family Foundation The Starfish Group Restorative Justice Program, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church Wallace Global Fund Copyright © 2009 by The Sentencing Project. Reproduction of this document in full or part in print or electronic format only by permission of The Sentencing Project.

sp_front_cvr_bjs_incparents.pdf Incarcerated Parents and Their Children Trends 1991-2007 February 2009

bjs_parentsbackcover.pdf

INCARCERATED PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN | TRENDS 1991-2007

PAGE


Introduction

Mass incarceration has had significant and long-lasting impacts on American society, and particularly on communities of color. There is now a growing awareness that parents who go to prison do not suffer the consequences alone; the children of incarcerated parents often lose contact with their parent and visits are sometimes rare. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to drop out of school, engage in delinquency, and subsequently be incarcerated themselves.

In 2007 there were 1.7 million children in America with a parent in prison, more than 70% of whom were children of color. Children of incarcerated parents live in a variety of circumstances. Some were previously in homes of two-parent families, where the non-incarcerated parent can assume primary responsibility for the children. Many children, especially in cases of women’s incarceration, were in single-parent homes and are then cared for by a grandparent or other relative, if not in foster care. And in some cases, due to substance abuse and other factors, incarcerated parents had either not lived with their children or not provided a secure environment for them. Following release from prison both parents and children face challenges in reuniting their families. Parents have to cope with the difficulty of finding employment and stable housing while also reestablishing a relationship with their children.

The increasing incarceration of women means that more mothers are being incarcerated than ever before. There is some evidence that maternal incarceration can be more damaging to a child than paternal incarceration, which results in more children now suffering negative consequences. The number of incarcerated mothers has more than doubled (122%) from 29,500 in 1991 to 65,600 in 2007. The effect of parents’ incarceration on children is related to a number of factors, including whether the child was living with the parent, whether the family unit was a one-parent or two-parent household, whether the parent was the sole earner, the age of the child, and the surrounding support network. While the effects can differ among children, the consequences of incarceration of a parent on a child are long-lasting and need to be considered when analyzing the ramifications of an expanding prison population.

This briefing paper evaluates data from reports compiled by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics citing data from 1997, 2004, and 2007. It also includes information from and comparisons to data from 1991, where possible, to allow analysis of trends over the last two decades.

Key Points

· In 2007, 1.7 million minor children had a parent in prison, an 82% increase since 1991.

· One in 43 American children has a parent in prison, with particularly broad racial/ethnic variation.

· One in 15 black children and 1 in 42 Latino children has a parent in prison, compared to 1 in 111 white children.

· In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in U.S. state and federal prisons, an increase of 79% since 1991.

· In 2007, half (52%) of all incarcerated men and women were parents.

· In 2004, 59% of parents in a state correctional facility and 45% of parents in a federal correctional facility reported never having had a personal visit from their child(ren).

· Two-thirds of the incarcerated parent population is non-white.

· From 1991 to 2007, the number of incarcerated mothers increased by 122%, compared to a rise of 76% for incarcerated fathers.

Incarcerated Parents

Population, 1991-2007

In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in state and federal prisons, a 79% increase since 1991, when there were 452,500 incarcerated parents. The population of parents is following a trend similar to that of all incarcerated individuals. While the prison population has almost doubled since 1991, the largest increase occurred between 1991 and 1997, with a slower rate of increase since then. Similarly, the number of parents jumped from 452,500 in 1991 to 721,500 in 1997 (an increase of 59%), but has increased more slowly (12%) since 1997. As Table 1 shows, while the proportion of incarcerated individuals with minor children increased slightly between 1991 and 1997, it has since decreased 11%. Nevertheless, while the proportion of people in prison who are parents is declining, the overall numbers are still increasing steadily.

Table 1: Change in Incarcerated Parent Population

% Change

% Change

1991-2007

1997-2007

Prison Population

789,610

1,244,554

1,570,115

98.8%

26.2%

Incarcerated Parent

Population

452,500

721,500

809,800

79.0%

12.2%

Parents as % Total

Incarcerated Population

57.3%

58.0%

51.6%

-10.0%

-11.0%

1991

1997

2007

Marital Status, 1997-2004

More than half of all incarcerated parents have never been married, an increase of 19% since 1997, and only 17% of incarcerated parents were married at the time of their imprisonment, a decrease of 28% since 1997. The changes in marital status could have an averse affect on the children of parents who do not have another parent at home when one parent goes to prison. Table 2 details the change in marital status of incarcerated parents from 1997 to 2004. Although most incarcerated parents have never been married, many have lived with their children prior to arrest. Among parents in federal prisons in 2004, half (48%) had lived with their children in the month prior to their arrest.

Table 2: Marital Status of Incarcerated Parents

% Change

1997-2004

Never Married

46.8%

55.9%

19.4%

Widowed/Divorced/Separated

29.1%

26.8%

-8.0%

Married

24.1%

17.4%

-28.0%

1997

2004

Gender of Incarcerated Parents, 1991-2007

In 2007, 92% of incarcerated parents were fathers and 8% were mothers. Since 1991, the number of incarcerated fathers has increased 76% while the number of incarcerated mothers has increased 122% (Table 3).

Change

%Change

1991

1997

2007

1991 - 2007

1991-2007

Fathers

423,000

667,900

744,200

321,200

76%

Mothers

29,500

53,600

65,600

36,100

122%

Total Number of Parents

452,500

721,500

809,800

357,300

79%

Table 3: Incarcerated Mothers and Fathers, 1991-2007

The rising number of women in prison poses particular challenges for family stability. While the vast majority of children of male prisoners are living with their mothers, only about a third (37%) of the children of incarcerated women are living with their fathers. Most of these children are living with grandparents or other relatives, while one of every nine (10.9%) women in prison has a child living in foster care.

Minor Children of Incarcerated PARENTS

In 2007, there were 1,706,600 minor children with an incarcerated parent, an 82.2% increase over the 936,500 children in 1991 (see Table 4). In 2007, one in 43 (2.3%) American children had a parent incarcerated in a state or federal prison. Approximately half of children with incarcerated parents are under ten years old; 22% of children of state inmates and 16% of children of federal inmates are under five years old. The large number of young children with an incarcerated parent creates problems that vary depending on each family’s circumstances. In some instances, such as a child living in a home where substance abuse was prevalent, the incarceration of a parent may actually result in a more stable environment for the child if a responsible relative is able to take on the child’s care. In other cases, the child will suffer from the shame and stigma of having a parent in prison, along with the disruption of moving to a new home environment one or more times.

Table 4: Number of Minor Children of Incarcerated Parents

% Change

1991

1997

2007

1991 - 2007

Children with Incarcerated Parent

936,500

1,498,800

1,706,600

82.2%

Racial and Ethnic Composition

In 2007, one in 15 (6.7%) black children, one in 42 (2.4%) Latino children, and one in 111 (0.9%) white children had an incarcerated parent (see Table 5). Since 1997, the number of white and Latino children with an incarcerated parent has increased 26% and 20% respectively, while the number of black children remained the same.

% Change

1997

2007

1997-2007

1997

2007

White

384,500

484,100

25.9%

125

111

Black

767,200

767,400

0.0%

14

15

Latino

301,600

362,800

20.3%

39

42

One in

Table 5: Racial and Ethnic Characteristics of Minor Children of Incarcerated Individuals

Contact with Parents

In 2004, more than half of parents housed in a state correctional facility had never had a personal visit from their child(ren), and almost half of parents in a federal facility had experienced the same. Frequency of contact between children and parents incarcerated in federal correctional facilities has dropped substantially since 1997; monthly contact has decreased 28%, while those who report never having contact with their children has increased 17%.

State

Federal

State

Federal

State

Federal

Any

22.2%

23.8%

22.3%

17.0%

0.5%

-28.6%

Telephone

16.5%

23.2%

15.6%

17.2%

-5.5%

-25.9%

Mail

23.1%

30.4%

23.2%

31.0%

0.4%

2.0%

Visits

13.9%

15.1%

12.5%

14.7%

-10.1%

-2.6%

Never

Any

20.4%

7.5%

21.4%

8.8%

4.9%

17.3%

Visits

56.6%

44.1%

58.5%

44.7%

3.4%

1.4%

% Change 1997 - 2004

2004

1997


Table 6: Frequency of Contact between Children and their Incarcerated Parents

A key factor explaining the limited contact is that incarcerated parents are generally housed far from home. In 2004, 62% of parents in a state correctional facility and 84% of parents in a federal correctional facility were housed more than 100 miles from their place of residence at arrest, and only 15% of parents in a state facility and about 5% of parents in a federal facility were housed fewer than 50 miles from their place of residence at arrest (see Table 7). This finding indicates that children of incarcerated parents typically live too far from their parents to see them very often.

Table 7: Parents’ Distance from Home, 2004

Distance from Home

State

Federal

Less than 50 miles

15.5%

4.6%

50-100 miles

20.6%

9.3%

101-500 miles

52.3%

41.2%

More than 500 miles

10.0%

42.4%

Unknown

1.6%

2.5%

Policy Impact

Public policies often exacerbate the challenges faced by incarcerated parents and their children. For example, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) signed by President Clinton in 1997, authorizes the termination of parental rights when a child has been living under foster care for 15 of the last 22 months. Because the average prison sentence exceeds 22 months, incarcerated parents dependent on foster care for their child’s care are at risk of losing custody. Loss of parental rights is of particular concern to mothers in prison, who are five times as likely as men to report having children placed in a foster home.

Moreover, the collateral consequences of a felony conviction and the obstacles to successful reentry for parents released from prison complicate the resumption of custody. For example, the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, imposes a lifetime ban on cash assistance and food stamps for people convicted of a drug offense, unless a state opts out of the requirement. People denied this assistance, or other social services like public housing or employment training, become limited in their ability to reintegrate and maintain stable households, thus diminishing the likelihood of regaining custody of their children.

Recommendations for Public Policy

The growing number of children with an incarcerated parent represents one of the most significant collateral consequences of the record prison population in the U.S. To address the issues presented by these developments policymakers should consider a range of programmatic and policy changes to minimize the harm caused to these children and to do so in ways that are consistent with public safety. These include:

Support Parent/Child Relationships

Corrections systems can provide programming that encourages good parenting as well as bonding with children. The Bedford Hills, NY, women’s prison, for example, has long maintained a program by which newborn babies can live with their mothers in prison for a period of time. Other prison systems have developed parenting classes to aid mothers and fathers who in many cases may lack the skills for effective child-rearing.

Enhance Reentry Programming

In addition to the need to secure employment and housing upon release from prison, incarcerated parents also face the challenge of developing a means by which to reunite with their children. This often necessitates securing the economic resources necessary to care for children and providing family counseling in appropriate cases. Corrections systems and parole agencies can aid in this process through reentry planning and providing linkages to transitional services.

Revise Ineffective Legislation

As noted above, both the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the

PRWORA legislation have impeded the prospects for successful reentry and uniting parents with children. These policies have a particular impact on people convicted of a drug offense and on women. The welfare and food stamp ban serves no rational purpose and should be repealed by Congress. The AFSA legislation should be amended to permit greater discretion in terminating parental rights for persons in prison, consistent with the safety and well-being of children.

Reconsider Lengthy Sentencing Policies

“Tough on crime” policies adopted in recent decades are increasingly being seen as producing overly punitive and costly results that produce severe imbalances in promoting public safety. In regard to the needs of children with parents in prison, of particular concern is the increasing length of prison sentences, which contribute to further fraying of parent-child bonds. Therefore, policymakers should review policies such as mandatory sentencing and similar measures that both fail to take into account the impact of incarceration on children left behind and frequently impose prison terms that are far longer than necessary for public safety concerns.

Conclusion

The number of children with a parent in prison has increased 82% since the early 1990s, and children now see their incarcerated parents less frequently than previously. While the racial disparity among children with incarcerated parents has decreased slightly, black children are still seven times more likely, and Latino children twice as likely, as white children to have an incarcerated parent. The proportion of incarcerated individuals who are parents has decreased slightly since 1991, but the exponential increase in the number of parents in prison is likely to have lasting effects on families and communities, particularly in minority neighborhoods. Scholars have found, for example, that young children “have been observed to suffer a variety of adverse outcomes that are consistent with the research on the effects of insecure attachments,” and that more than half of children with incarcerated parents have had school problems such as poor grades and instances of aggression. These problems are likely to worsen as maternal incarceration continues to rise. Awareness of the issue and its implications, along with action to reduce the impact of incarceration on children, is necessary in order to protect and support children when their parents are incarcerated.

� EMBED Excel.Sheet.8 ��







� Dallaire, D.H. (2007). Incarcerated mothers and fathers: A Comparison of risks for children and families. Family Relations, 56(5), 440-453.

� Glaze, L. E. & Maruschak, L. M. (2008). Parents in prison and their minor children. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. NCJ 222984. Mumola, C.J. (2000). Incarcerated parents and their children. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. NCJ 182335.

� Parke, R. and Clarke-Stewart, K.A. (2002). Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

State

Federal

State

Federal

State

Federal

Any

22.2%

23.8%

22.3%

17.0%

0.5%

-28.6%

Telephone

16.5%

23.2%

15.6%

17.2%

-5.5%

-25.9%

Mail

23.1%

30.4%

23.2%

31.0%

0.4%

2.0%

Visits

13.9%

15.1%

12.5%

14.7%

-10.1%

-2.6%

Never

Any

20.4%

7.5%

21.4%

8.8%

4.9%

17.3%

Visits

56.6%

44.1%

58.5%

44.7%

3.4%

1.4%

% Change 1997 - 2004

2004

1997


% Change

1997

2007

1997-2007

1997

2007

White

384,500

484,100

25.9%

125

111

Black

767,200

767,400

0.0%

14

15

Latino

301,600

362,800

20.3%

39

42

One in

Distance from Home

State

Federal

Less than 50 miles

15.5%

4.6%

50-100 miles

20.6%

9.3%

101-500 miles

52.3%

41.2%

More than 500 miles

10.0%

42.4%

Unknown

1.6%

2.5%

% Change

1997-2004

Never Married

46.8%

55.9%

19.4%

Widowed/Divorced/Separated

29.1%

26.8%

-8.0%

Married

24.1%

17.4%

-28.0%

1997

2004

Change

%Change

1991

1997

2007

1991 - 2007

1991-2007

Fathers

423,000

667,900

744,200

321,200

76%

Mothers

29,500

53,600

65,600

36,100

122%

Total Number of Parents

452,500

721,500

809,800

357,300

79%

% Change

1991

1997

2007

1991 - 2007

Children with Incarcerated Parent

936,500

1,498,800

1,706,600

82.2%

% Change

% Change

1991-2007

1997-2007

Prison Population

789,610

1,244,554

1,570,115

98.8%

26.2%

Incarcerated Parent

Population

452,500

721,500

809,800

79.0%

12.2%

Parents as % Total

Incarcerated Population

57.3%

58.0%

51.6%

-10.0%

-11.0%

1991

1997

2007

_1293352243.xls

Sheet1

Change%Change

1991199720071991 - 20071991-2007

Fathers423,000667,900744,200321,20076%

Mothers29,50053,60065,60036,100122%

Total Number of Parents452,500721,500809,800357,30079%

_1294647342.xls

Sheet1

199119972007% Change% Change

1991-20071997-2007

Prison Population789,6101,244,5541,570,11598.8%26.2%

Incarcerated Parent Population452,500721,500809,80079.0%12.2%

Parents as % Total Incarcerated Population57.3%58.0%51.6%-10.0%-11.0%

_1295164843.xls

Sheet1

% Change

1991199720071991 - 2007

Children with Incarcerated ParentChildren with Incarcerated Parent936,5001,498,8001,706,60082.2%

_1289037014.xls

Sheet1

19972004% Change

1997-2004

Never Married46.8%55.9%19.4%

Widowed/Divorced/Separated29.1%26.8%-8.0%

Married24.1%17.4%-28.0%

_1293020379.xls

Sheet1

% ChangeOne in

199720071997-200719972007

White384,500484,10025.9%125111

Black767,200767,4000.0%1415

Latino301,600362,80020.3%3942

_1289209346.xls

Sheet1

Distance from HomeStateFederal

Less than 50 miles15.5%4.6%

50-100 miles20.6%9.3%

101-500 miles52.3%41.2%

More than 500 miles10.0%42.4%

Unknown1.6%2.5%

_1289036316.xls

Sheet1

19972004% Change 1997 - 2004

StateFederalStateFederalStateFederal


Any22.2%23.8%22.3%17.0%0.5%-28.6%

Telephone16.5%23.2%15.6%17.2%-5.5%-25.9%

Mail23.1%30.4%23.2%31.0%0.4%2.0%

Visits13.9%15.1%12.5%14.7%-10.1%-2.6%

Never

Any20.4%7.5%21.4%8.8%4.9%17.3%

Visits56.6%44.1%58.5%44.7%3.4%1.4%

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